The far-right groups on Telegram have intensified calls for truck drivers in the final stretch of the elections. The messages have intensified since the defeat of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), with the speech that the category needs to mobilize to make clear the dissatisfaction with the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to the Presidency.
The summons, in writing or in videos, to which the Sheet had access, say that Brazil cannot be “delivered to communism” and call for a mobilization of truck drivers, “friends of agribusiness” and even the population to stop the roads, especially in São Paulo.
One of the videos shared on Telegram before the second round vote shows businessman Emilio Dalçoquio, from Santa Catarina, making a speech inside a bar in Praia Brava, in the municipality of Itajaí (SC). A supporter of Bolsonaro, Dalçoquio is known in the transport sector and participated in the truck drivers’ strike in 2018.
“It’s not me, it’s you, the Brazilian. For the first time, the Brazilian is exposing: I don’t accept communism. Let’s wait for the next few hours, and see who has a truck driver friend, from the agribusiness. For now, peacefully. in the heart of everyone accepting that Brazil is communist or not. I don’t accept it.”
The venue is taken over by families, including women with children, and in chorus those present respond “I don’t either.”
The report of Sheet identified the same video in an Instagram post, also before the vote.
In another pre-voting footage, São Paulo’s PTB deputy candidate Jurandyr Alencar talks about “inevitable civil war” and asks for people’s collaboration to close the main highways in the state of São Paulo.
“Truck drivers in Paraná, Mato Grosso, in other regions have already started to stop. Civil war is inevitable. That we will have losses and deaths is logical, obviously, until the Army comes in to take care of it. There are things to happen tomorrow in the movement, but we have to go to the street”, he says in the post.
“One of the ideas. Stop, first, Anchieta and Imigrantes. Nothing goes down, nothing goes up. This will already cause chaos in the entire south zone of São Paulo, and then it will start to make a difference. Dutra and Ayrton Senna to Rio de Janeiro and the interior of São Paulo. Nothing comes in and nothing comes out. In the case of Raposo Tavares and Régis Bittencourt. There are other stops that we have to make.”
Alencar also warns that truck drivers are not enough, and asks for support from the population.
“There’s a shortage of people, there’s a shortage of people to do volume. It’s no use putting only trucks, there have to be people doing volume. So, try to move closer to the regions of your houses.”
The monitoring of far-right groups is part of the research “Digital Democracy — analysis of disinformation ecosystems on Telegram during the Brazilian electoral process of 2022”. At the moment, researchers follow 569 channels and 212 groups on Telegram.
The social network has been a frequent tool of extremist groups. Last year, members of the Bolsonarista group B38 claimed to plan motorcades in several cities across the country, for the coup-based acts of the 7 de Setembro, mobilized by the president, as shown by a report in Sheet.
The exchange of messages was intense in the final stretch of the election. In October, more than 2 million messages were exchanged in the channels and groups that are part of the sample, double the number recorded in September, the month in which activities had already gained momentum because of the 7 de Setembro.
On Friday (29), summons to truck drivers were already among the most shared messages in the groups that are monitored. In the hours following the election results, new groups began to share messages instigating mobilizations against Lula.
“All the time, videos and images appear inciting the coup”, says Leonardo Nascimento, one of the research coordinators, from UFBA (Federal University of Bahia), “It is very likely that organized groups, even if they are minority, will try something.”
In Nascimento’s assessment, the president’s dubious stance is part of the context of instability of this type of demonstration.
“Bolsonaro operates on a double policy, in the game of comings and goings”, explains the researcher. “All the time, he oscillates between moderation, which is obedience to the rules, and coupism, which is the contesting political goal of the electoral game.”
According to the researcher, duplicity is a strategy. “It needs to satisfy different interests, which range from serving institutional segments that believe in victory by voting, to the interests of a margin of more radicalized voters who believe in a coup”, says Nascimento.
The report tried to talk to Dalçóquio at the family’s transport company and at an NGO he runs in Santa Catarina, but got no response.
Chad-98Weaver, a distinguished author at NewsBulletin247, excels in the craft of article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a penchant for storytelling, Chad delivers informative and engaging content that resonates with readers across various subjects. His contributions are a testament to his dedication and expertise in the field of journalism.
